Elevating the future of mobility: UAV-enabled Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) improve traffic efficiency, traffic management, driver's comfort, and safety. They consist of a broad range of components, including vehicles, sensors, Base Stations, Road Side Units, and road infrastructure (i.e., traffic signals). ITS of the near future will need to support multi-modal transportation schemes (including ground and aerial vehicles, so-called Urban Air Mobility). ITS will have to be integrated with Unmanned Aerial Systems Traffic Management (UTM) and rely on 3 Dimensional (3D) connectivity provided by Integrated Aerial-Terrestrial 6G networks to achieve this support. In other words, various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will become integral parts of future ITS due to their mobility, autonomous operation, and communication/processing capabilities. This article presents our view on the future integration of ITS and UTM systems, enabling wireless technologies and open research questions. We also present how UAVs can be used to enhance the performance of the currently available ITS.